President Cyril Ramaphosa will embark on a robust international campaign to have trillions of rands in capital invested in SA to create more jobs.
Some of the money raised for the stimulus package would come to the Eastern Cape to boost agriculture and industries, he said in his Day of Reconciliation speech in Mthatha on Sunday.
Ramaphosa said the Eastern Cape could become the food basket of the nation.
“The Eastern Cape is not only the home of legends, but it also has the potential of being the food basket of SA and the investment will ensure that it indeed achieves that,” he said.
The province had to make better use of its good land for agriculture and also tourism.
On Sunday morning, Ramaphosa officially opened the Rural Agro-Industries and Finance Initiative at Ncise village near Mthatha.
In his address, Ramaphosa said failure to resolve the land issue in a just and equitable manner would threaten the stability “of our democratic nation. There is sufficient land in SA for all of us to work the land”.
He said in order to foster reconciliation, SA had to end the era of arrogance, entitlement and privilege.
He laid into people who still wanted to take the country backwards.
“We should stand as one in condemning those who use all manner of vile names to describe black South Africans or threaten to kill whites, or who insult others because of their faith, culture or language.”
The event was attend by various leaders, including DA provincial leader Nqaba Banga.
Ramaphosa said there could be no reconciliation in SA when the majority of people continued to suffer the injustices of the past, specifically poverty and inequality.
He was addressing hundreds of people at the Walter Sisulu University Stadium in Mthatha.
“Reconciliation is not mere hugging and applauding how beautiful people are, but is about actions and commitment to ensure equal redistribution of land, equality and to change the lives of people for the better and deal with the imbalances of the past.”
He added: “So long as millions of our people are burdened by poverty and underdevelopment, stunting their chances and prospects for a better life, we will not have achieved our goal. The Day of Reconciliation must therefore be a day on which we reaffirm our commitment to eradicate poverty, hunger, homelessness and unemployment.”
Rectifying the injustices of the past meant “we all need to be part of the efforts to promote investment, achieve inclusive growth, improve the conditions of the poor and create employment on a massive scale. There was a great need to build an inclusive economy by improving the skills of the youth,” said Ramaphosa.
“It is not easy, but the future is bright,” he said.
Ramaphosa spoke out against intolerance, saying each South African had to learn to respect each other. He wanted to see an end to hatred and the flinging of insults at each other. DA leader Mmusi Maimane said South Africa’s political landscape was full of fake revolutionaries who merely pretended to care about poverty and disempowerment. “Dishonest politicians exploit the real frustrations and hardships of people for their own power and wealth‚” he told a Day of Reconciliation event in Johannesburg’s Eldorado Park.
“They create the illusion that they stand on the side of the poor. Some of them will even go as far as wearing the overalls of the working class or the uniforms of domestic workers as part of this illusion‚ but these are just props and costumes for their act‚” Maimane stated‚ adding that both the ANC and the EFF fell into this category. – TimesLIVE..